The third Heartbreakers record won Petty his stardom, linking him with Bruce Springsteen for the designation Youngish Dude Who Might Save Rock. Petty updated the ’60s without seeming like he was giving you a history lesson. He was traditional but slick, a vaguely pissy regular guy with a soft side who liked big, lush chords and sang about love and loss like a Southern boy who grew up crazy about Elvis. Torpedoes has everything you’d want from Petty—smoothed-out Byrds jangle and Stones swagger, grooves you can dance to without spilling your drink (“Refugee”), a pretty song for underdog romantics (“Here Comes My Girl”), an alienated L.A. tale (“Century City”), a power-pop rant (“What Are You Doin’ in My Life”) and a reverent ballad about Dixie (“Louisiana Rain”). His ambitions grew, but he never topped this album.

DOWNLOAD “Refugee,” “Don’t Do Me Like That,” “Here Comes My Girl”